Sorting and stacking apparatus



April 14, 1959 G. J. BROWN ETAL v SORTING AND STACKING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 20, 1954 5 4 u M #m J Z d f m w; 1 .F NM v. z on VM B J u n 5 M m M m a m L w \m w w u v m m F WII N n. u m m K H w m. 1 w am GEORGE W BROWN April 14, 1959 J. QR N ET AL 2,881,917

SORTING AND STACKING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 20 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 '6 v L f: 90 U INVENTORS G026 .wmss aeawu esapcs w. BROWN 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 April 14, 1959 'G. J. BROWN ETAL SORTING AND STACKING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 20, 1954 m0 WW Kw 0 V E e N a 5 7 M 7 W W 4 2 .MN a mm 6W. Y B v O o J .M W =53: M g z 0 ,I 2 2 3 a w United States Patent ()fiice 2,881,917 Patented Apr. 14, 1959 SORTING AND STACKING APPARATUS George James Brown, Pasadena, and George W. Brown,

Pacific Palisades, Califi, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Telemeter Magnetics, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif, a corporation of New York Application September 20, 1954, Serial No. 457,171

Claims. (Cl. 209-74) This invention relates to apparatus for handling sheets of material and, more particularly, to apparatus for sorting and stacking sheets of material, such as paper and the like.

In an application by George W. Brown et al., Serial Number 321,452, filed November 19, 1952, for a Computing System, which is assigned to this assignee, there is described a system whereby documents, papers, and the like may be handled by machines. In the illustration provided in the application, a check, for example, has thereon human language which is typewritten or handwritten matter; an auxiliary paper or tab has machine language which consists, for example, of perforations or other indicia representing the aforementioned typewritten or handwritten human language. The machine language is entered on the tab after the check is returned to a bank having the complete human language thereon. The tab is attached to one side of the check, and the machine language data on the tab enables automatic reading thereof by information-handling machines which can utilize thedata-also, automatic sorting or collating of the checks is thereby enabled.

In an application for a Tab-Afiixing Device by George James Brown, Serial No. 457,248, filed September 20, 1954, now Patent No. 2,808,871, also assigned to a common assignee, there is described apparatus which automatically affixes a tab having the machine language thereon to a check or other piece of paper having the associated human language thereon. The machine language can be read readily by photoelectric or other automatic reading devices, and the signals derived from the autoprovision of apparatus which can retain captured documents in the order of their capture and load them onto auxiliary apparatus in the same order.

Yet another feature of the invention is the provision of novel, simple, and inexpensive apparatus for sorting and stacking selected documents.

These and other features of the invention are achieved by providing a drum, consisting of a central cylinder with vanes extending radially from the surface of the cylinder. These vanes form a plurality of circularly disposed pockets. A loading or capture position is provided at which the checks bearing the tabs are passed through one of the pockets. If the check passing through the pocket is to be captured, means are provided for deflecting the check into the pocket and stopping its path through the pocket. The drum is then indexed to position a new pocket at the capture position. The drum rotates each time another check is captured. Means are provided for aligning the checks Within the pockets so that they can be forced upon cartridge mechanism designed to remove the checks from the pockets in the sequence in which they are captured. Thus the drum is emptied prior to completing a revolution.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 illustrates a check with an affixed tab which is shown for the purposes of facilitating the description of the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic drawing of a system for sorting and stacking illustrative of the type wherein the present invention may be employed;

Figure 3 is a side view of an embodiment of the invention taken along the lines 33 of Figure 2;

' Figure 4 is a section along the lines 5-5 of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 3 illustrating the central construction of the apparatus;

matic scanning devices may be employed to direct the a sorting operation, or collating, or computations, as the case may be. The invention herein is for apparatus which can capture a desired one of a plurality of documents, to each of which a tab is aflixed, and can stack captured documents in the sequence of capture on a cartridge which is designed for receiving the document. Using a, plurality of the embodiments of the invention, a plurality of the documents maybe completely sorted and properly stacked.

For the purposes of facilitating the description of the invention herein, the documents to be handled will be considered as checks with a tab aflixed to one side by adhesive or other means. This should not be construed as a limitation upon the invention, since it will be appreciated from the subsequent description that any other documents, sheets, or even booklets may be handled in the manner described for the checks.

A feature of the present invention, accordingly, is to provide apparatus which can capture an indicated one of a plurality of sheetspassing therethrough, remove it, and

stack it on receiving apparatus in the order of removal.

Another feature of the present invention is the'provision of apparatus which can remove a document from a plurality passing thereby rapidly and efficiently and set itself to capture a required succeeding document.

"Still another' feature of thepresent invention is the Figure 5 is a drawing in section of the driving apparatus for the invention;

Figures 6 and 7 are sections taken through Figure 5 illustrating further details of the driving apparatus;

Figure 8 is another side view of an embodiment of the invention illustrating the capture apparatus;

Figure 9 and 10 are drawings illustrative of the type of cartridgewhich may be employed with the embodiment of the invention;

Figures 11 and 12 are drawings of a vane and pocket arrangement which may be alternatively employed for capturing a document;

Figure 13 shows plates which are employed in the invention for aligning a captured document for the purpose of loading the cartridge; and

Figures 14 and 15 are further details of capture apparatus employed with the embodiment of the invention.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a document 10 bearing a tab 12. The document illustrated, as previously stated, is a check which may bear information in human language and the tab has been afiixed thereto along one edge. The tab bears information in machine language. Here the machine language is shown as perforations which represent a binary code. The tab is aligned with what may be termed the leading edge of the check 14. The tab has holes 16 perforated therein having a shape to engage the guide rails of a cartridge. This will be explained more fully later herein.

A system of a general type wherein the embodiment of the invention herein may be employed is shown in Figure 2. A plurality of the checks having the affixed tabs with machine language may be fed in sequence from a check feeder 18. The check feeder may be either a machine, the function of which is to supply these checks one at a time onto a conveying system, or a person, performing the same function. A suitable machine for this purpose may be found described and claimed in an application by Niels Krag, for a Sheet-Separating Apparatus, Serial No. 554,481, filed December 21, 1955, now abandoned, which is assigned to a common assignee. In this feeder, the checks are urged singly between rollers through a gauging throat by fingers which are actuated against the edge formed by the tab edge, where it overlies the check. The conveying system may consist of either a conventional conveyor belt, stretched over driven rollers, or, as preferred, a series of driven opposed rollers 20 between which the tab on the check passes. The reason this system of handling is preferred is because the tab being aflixed after a check is returned to the bank provides a smooth and more rigid body for handling, aligning, etc. The check being afiixed to the tab naturally will be carried therewith. The tab is conveyed past a reading head 22, which may be, for example, any one of the well known photoelectric or feeler-pin types of apparatus which are employed to sense perforations in paper tape. The information sensed by the reading head in the embodiment of the invention herein is employed to determine whether or not the check bearing the tab which has been read will be captured at the next sorting and stacking position. If it is not to be captured, then it is transmitted to the succeeding rollers 20 and reading head 22' to determine its disposition at the succeeding capture position. As many of these reading heads and capture positions may be provided as are desired or required for the purposes of sorting the documents being handled. Three are shown here by way of illustration.

It will be appreciated that the system shown in Figure 2 is merely to illustrate one form of utility for the sorting and stacking apparatus herein. At each capture position there is an embodiment of the invention which consists of a sorting and stacking drum 24. This sorting and stacking drum, in response to the information provided by the reading head 22, will either capture a check and stack it properly on a cartridge or will permit the check to be passed through to the next sorting position.

Figure 3 is ,a side view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2 of an embodiment of the invention. A plurality of vanes30 extend radially from a central cylinder 32. A driving gear 34 is mounted on the side of the cylinder. The cylinder is mounted for rotation on a shaft (not seen in this view). There are two side plates 38 which support the shaft. A frame 40 supports the side plate. Also supported from the side plate is the mechanism whereby the drum may be driven. This mechanism is shown in detail in Figures 5, .6, and 7 of the drawings. What is seen in Figure 3 is a Geneva star wheel 42 and a driving wheel 44 having at least one pin 46 thereon which may engage the slots in the Geneva star wheel 42. The driv ing wheel 44 also has mounted thereon amember 48 which rotates therewith and co-operates with the Geneva stat wheel 42 to prevent its rotation except when driven by the pin .46. The star wheel and member are mounted on a friction clutch housing 84. The frame 40 also supports a rack 50 which is adapted to removably hold a cartridge 52 having guide rails 54 thereon. Auxiliary guide rails 56 are supported from the frame which are aligned with the guide rails 54 of the cartridge 52. These auxiliary guide rails, as shown by the dotted extension, commence near the bottom of the drum.

The sorting and stacking drum consists, as shown, of a plurality of the vanes 30 which are radially mounted on the central cylinder for the purpose of providing a plurality of pockets which are adjacent to each other. At one position, which may be denoted as the loading or capture position, there are supported driven rollers 58.

The tab which is attached to the check passes between these rollers with the check portion extending toward the pocket of the drum. The pockets are open at both ends and at the capture position .are aligned with the rollers so that the rollers may throw the check through the pocket at the loading or capture position if the check is not to be captured. The length .of the vanes which form the pockets is made such that the check is supported with the perforations in the tabs extending outside of the vanes. It will be appreciated that this dimension is dictated by the necessity for bringing the perforations in alignment with the guide rails 54, 56. As previously indicated, when a check is not to be captured, the rollers 58 give .thecheck sufficient thrust to pass it through the pocket to the other side where the rollers on the other side (not shown) of the drum take the check and convey it to the next sorting position. If the check is to be captured, the pocket at the capture position is blocked. The check thus remains in the pocket and the driving mechanism for the drum rotates the drum clockwise, as seen in Figure 3, until the next empty .pocket is at the capture position.

In order to prevent the checks from falling out of the pockets, guide :plates 60 are provided at the bottom of the drum. These serve the .double purpose-of preventing the checks from falling out of the pockets and .of aligning the perforations of the tabs so that the tabs will engage the guide rails 56 as .the drum successively rotates with each captured check. Accordingly, the checks .are stacked on the guide rails in the order in which they are captured. As the drum continues .to rotate, the checks are moved along the guide rails 56 onto the guide rails 54 of the removable cartridge. When the cartridge is completely loaded, it may be removed and a new cartridge substituted therefor.

Reference is now made to Figure 4, which shows section 5--5 of the sorting and stacking drum. A shaft 70 is fixedly mounted in each of the side plates 38. A hollow cylinder 32 is concentrically mounted on the fixed shaft by means of two end members 74, 76 supported on the shaft by two needle bearings 78. The vanes 30 are inserted into slots in the cylinder member 32 in a manner to extend radially therefrom. At the top of the drawing of Figure 4 there maybe seen a check 10 with its tab 12 mounted on the guide rails 56. At the bottom of the drawing in Figure 4 may be seen a check 10 'with its tab 12 resting and being guided into proper position by the guide plates 60, 60. The end member 74 has mounted thereon a gear 34 by which it may be driven. A hearing 80 is employed in view of side thrust which develops to enable rotation between the end member 74 and the supporting side piece 82 of the fixed shaft 70. The driving mechanism for the drum, as indicated in Figure 3, includes the star wheel 42 and driving wheel 44 having the member 48 thereon. The wheel 44 is driven by means of a friction clutch, having a housing 84, from a motor 86, which is coupled to drive the friction clutch by means of a belt 88. The star wheel 42 has structure attached thereto to drive a worm gear 90, which in turn drives the gear 34. This latter drive is what causes the previously mentioned side thrust.

Details of the drive mechanism may be seen in Figure 5, which is a view in section of the driving mechanism. Figures 6 and 7 are further details of the driving mechanism. Reference will be made thereto in the description of Figure 5. The cylinder member 32, as previously stated, has mounted thereon the gear 34. This gear is driven by a worm gear 90, as seen in Figure 7, which, in turn, is driven from bevel gears 92, 94. The bevel gear 94 is attached through a shaft 96. Bearings 98, which are fixed in the wall of the housing of the friction clutch 84, rotatably support shaft 96. The other end of shaft 96 is attached to the Geneva star wheel 42. The driving wheel 44 is connected via a shaft 100, which is rotatably supported in the wall of the housing 84 by hearing 102. Shaft 100 extends into the mechanism of the friction assist? clutch 104. This friction clutch mechanism is continuously driven by motor 86 via drive belt 88. The friction clutch mechanism 104 is shown in detail in Figure 6 and consists of an outer clutch plate 106, which is continuously driven by the belt 88, and associated mechanism, and a smaller clutch plate 108, which is in frictional engagement with the plate 106. The shaft 100 is mounted in the plate 108. The plate 108 is notched and prevented from turning by a clutch latch 110, which is biased up- 1 Ward into the notch by a spring 112. Accordingly, as long as the latch engages the notch of the clutch of the plate 108, shaft 100 does not rotate.

A solenoid (not shown) has an armature 114, which is attached'to a crank arm 116. This crank arm 116 is attached to a pivotally supported shaft 118. Also attached to this shaft is a lever arm 120. The lever arm is actuated downward when the solenoid (not shown) receives an impulse. The lever arm thereby will push biasing spring 112 downward, thus enabling the latch 110 to be disengaged from the notch in the plate 108. The frictionally coupled plate will then be driven in a counterclockwise direcion for one revolution. As soon as the pulse-actuated solenoid returns to its quiescent position, the spring 112 biases the latch upward toward the plate but is unable to arrest the rotation of the disc until after a single revolution, when the notch and latch engage again. Thus, shaft 100 and drive wheel 44 are rotated for a single revolution. This enables pin 46 to co-operate with the notch in the Geneva star wheel 42, t

thus driving it and, in turn, through the bevel gears 92, 94 and the worm gear 90 and gear 34 rotating the drum a proper amount to enable it to index one pocket position. This removes a captured check from the capture position and places a second empty pocket at the capture position.

It will be appreciated, of course, that the solenoid which actuates the clutch to permit rotation of the drum is actuated when the reading head receives information from a tab indicating that the check, providing that information is to be captured. There is a time element which must be considered, for the check which has been read has to travel into the capture position. This requires co-operation' between the speed of the conveying rollers and the initiation of the operation of the sorting V 6 I 121. The timing for actuating .the drum-rotating mechanism and the shutter and edge guide is a very simple one and will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

Figure 9 is a view in section through the frame and cartridge shown in Figure 8. The frame 50 has a notch with sloping walls extending along the lower portion thereof. The cartridge 52 consists of a body portion 53 having guide rails extending downwardly, and, on the upper portion, it is shaped to slidingly engage the notch in the frame 50. A tab 12 hearing a check is shown in position to engage the guide rails 54. A perspective view of the cartridge may be seen in Figure 10 to better illustrate the structure thereof.

Figure 13 shows a bottom view of the guide plates 60, 60. These guide plates serve to align the openings in the tab with the guide rails. As may be seen in Figure 13, as the check is moved with rotation of the drum, the edge of the bottom plate 60 serves to move the check until the holes in the tab 12 are aligned with the guide rails 56.

Figures 11 and 12 illustrate another embodiment of the invention which may be employed to capture a check. Instead of the shutter mechanism 121 and/or the edge guide 126, alternate pockets may have a permanent shutter 140 at the end which is furthest away from the edge of the check and tab being fed into the sorting and stacking drum. At the capture position there is positioned an open one of the pockets or one that does not have the shutter 140. Accordingly, a check which is not to be captured will pass through the pocket in the manner described previously. When it is desired to capture a check, the driving mechanism for the drum is actuated to position one of the pockets with a shutter at the capture position. The check is thus captured. As soon as the capture occurs,

. the drum is indexed one further position to enable one and stacking drum, which can be simply solved by using eitheryan electrical delay for the signal from the reading head or a mechanical delay of the wheel operation to enable the travel of the check to the capture position. Another simple solution is to place the reading head in such a position that the mechanical delay of the operation of the sorting and stacking drum permits sufiicient time to elapse.

Figure 8 is a view on the side of the drum opposite to the one shown in Figure 3. Considering Figure 8 together with Figures 14 and 15, mechanism for capturing a check is shown. This consists of a shutter 121, which is normally positioned below the capture position. A solenoid 122 actuates a lever arm 124 upon receiving a proper signal to pull the shutter into blocking position, which is shown in dotted lines. This effectively closes one end of the pocket and prevents a check which is to be captured from passing therethrough. Additional mechanism is shown in Figures 14 and 15 in the form of an edge guide 126, which is positioned alongside of the capture position. The edge guide has a slot 128 therein and normally the tab of the check which is passing through the pocket at the capture position also is guided through the slot 128. A solenoid 130 is pivotally attached to the edge guide at one side and the back of the edge guide is pivotally supported by a pin 132 at the other side. When a check is to be captured, the solenoid receives an impulse which causes the edge guide to be pivoted upward. This enables the check to be stopped in the pocket at the capture position. Accordingly, to doubly secure capture, there is provided both the mechanism for moving the edge guide 126 and the shutter of the open pockets to be positioned at the capture position again. This requires the reading head to send signals to the drive mechanism to be operated first in time to capture the check and again in time to place an open pocket at the capture position. This may be very simply accomplished by transmitting the first signal to rotate the drum to capture a check and having a timing mechanism which is actuated as soon as the drum rotates to send a second impulse to the driving mechanism at aninterval determined by the time required for a check to be captured.

Accordingly, there has been shown and described herein apparatus for capturing a desired one of a number of checks being passed therethrough and conveying that check to storage apparatus in which it is stacked in the sequence of capture. Although the description contained herein is directed to the capture of checks, it will be appreciated that any other type of sheet material or collection of sheets to which a tab may be affixed for identification purposes may employ this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A sorting and stacking apparatus for sheets having aligned perforations on one edge comprising a plurality of pockets, said pockets being sufliciently shallow to enable said one edge to extend outside of a pocket when a sheet is held therein, means for passing said sheets in sequence through one of said pockets, means to capture a desired sheet in said one of said pockets, means to cyclically convey said plurality of pockets to and past the location at which said means for passing sheets passes said sheets through one of said pockets to position an other pocket in place of said one of said pockets after the capture of said desired sheet, and guide rails means positioned to engage the perforations of a captured sheet after it has been moved past said capture position to withdraw said sheet completely from said pocket prior to its being carried back to said capture position.

2. A sorting and stacking apparatus for sheets comprising a rotatably mounted drum, a plurality of vanes extending radially from the surface of said drum to form a plurality of adjacent pockets, means for passing said sheets in sequence through one of said pockets, means to capture a desired sheet in said one of said pockets, means to rotate said drum to position another pocket at the location at which said means for passing sheets passes .said sheets through said one of said pockets after the capture of said desired sheet and means adopted to hold a sheet as said drum is rotated 'to empty said pockets prior to returning to the location of said means for passing said sheets in sequence.

3. A sorting and stacking apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said drum surface has a plurality of parallel slots and said plurality of 'vanes are respectively wedged in each of said plurality of slots.

4. A sorting and stacking apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said means to capture a sheet .in said one of said pockets includes a shutter at one end of alternate pockets -to prevent passage therethrough of a sheet.

5. A sorting and stacking apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said means to capture a sheet in one of said pockets includes an edge guide positioned alongside of said pockets to assist in guiding passage of said sheets through one of said pockets, and means to move said guide to stop a desired sheet in said pocket.

'6. A sorting and stacking apparatus for sheets having aligned perforations on one edge comprising a rotatably mounted drum, a plurality of vanes extending radially from the surface of said drum to form a plurality of adjacent pockets, said vanes being short enough to enable said one edge to extend outside of a pocket when holding a sheet therein, means for passing said sheets in sequence through one of said pockets, means to capture a desired sheet in said one of said pockets, means to rotate said drum to move said plurality of pockets to and past the position at which said means for passing said sheets in sequence passes sheets through said one pocket to position another pocket in place of said one of said pockets after the capture of said desired sheet, and guide rail means positioned to engage the perforations of a captured sheet after it has been moved past said position of said means for passing said sheets in sequence to withdraw said sheet completely from said pocket prior to its being carried back to said capture position.

7. A sorting and stacking apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein said guide rail means includes a first pair of guide rails having an arcuate shape and being substantially concentrically mounted with said drum, and a second pair of guide rails which are substantially straight and which are positioned .as an extension at one end of said arcuate guide rails.

'8. A sortingland stacking apparatus as recited in claim '7 wherein said means to capture a sheet includes edge guide means. at said position of .said means for passing said sheets .in sequence alongside of said one of said pockets to guide sheets .by their one edge through said pockets, and means to move said edge guide means to stop .a sheet to be captured in said pocket.

'9. A sorting and stacking apparatus for sheets having aligned perforations at one edge comprising a rotatably mounted drum, a plurality of vanes extending radially from the surface of said drum to form a plurality of adjacent pocke'ts, said vanes being short enough to enable said one edge to extend outside of a pocket when holding a sheet therein, means for passing said sheets in sequence through one of said pockets, an edge guide positioned alongside of a pocket located where said means for passing said sheets in sequence can cooperate therwith, to guide sheets through said pocket by their edges, means to move said edge guide to stop a desired sheet in said pocket, means for rotating said drum to move said pockets to and past the position at which said means for passing said sheets in sequence passes sheets through one of said pockets to position another pocket in place of said one of said pockets after the capture of said desired sheet, a first pair of guide rails having a substantially arcuate shape and being substantially concentrically mounted with said drum the radius of said are being substantially equal to the radial distance made by the perforations of a captured sheet with the axis of said drum to align a captured sheet perforations with said guide rails whereby said sheet is moved onto said guide rails as said drum is rotated, and a second pair of guide rails which are substantially straight and which are positioned as an extension of one end of said first pair of guide rails to remove said captured sheet from said pocket prior to its being rotated back to said postion of said means for passing said sheets in sequence.

10. A sorting and stacking apparatus as recited in claim 9 wherein said second pair of guide rails is removable.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 912,764 Wint -gen Feb, 16, 1909 

